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Confession tricks exported to Australia | Reid Technique
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Coerced confessions
Robbery conviction tossed
out on appeal: Tape confessions, court tells police
By KIRK MAKIN. JUSTICE
REPORTER, Globe and Mail, Jul. 2, 2003
In what resembles the legal
equivalent of shouting into a howling wind, the Ontario Court
of Appeal has again implored recalcitrant police to videotape
interrogations.
The court threw out a bank
robbery conviction based on the fact that the defendant's alleged
confession was not videotaped, emphasizing that there is rarely
a valid reason for failing to turn on the cameras.
Madam Justice Kathryn Feldman
described the confession in Keigo Glen White's case as "suspect,"
and made it clear that judges have stressed the importance of
videotaped confessions until they are blue in the face.
The 3-0 ruling echoed a 2001
decision where the court referred to 16 previous rulings, made
by various courts, which had emphasized the value of "the
simple expedient" of videotaping statements.
"The police seem to be
able to operate every gizmo and gadget that is produced to help
find criminals -- but none of them seem to know how to turn on
a video camera or tape recorder," defence lawyer Frank Addario
said yesterday.
He said Toronto Police holdup
squad officers seem especially unwilling to videotape statements
-- apparently bargaining on the fact that many trial judges will
overlook their inadequate methods and register convictions anyway.
"I think the holdup squad
has made a considered choice not to follow the instruction of
the court, to roll the dice on persuading judges that nothing
untoward happened behind the closed doors of the interrogation
room," Mr. Addario said.
"The refusal of the police
to let judges see what goes on during interrogations speaks volumes
about their willingness to have the courts really know if the
suspect spoke voluntarily."
Constable Shehara Valles, a
Toronto Police spokeswoman, said yesterday that it is the force's
policy to videotape statements whenever possible.
She said while she could not
discuss specific cases, circumstances do sometimes prevent the
use of cameras.
In its ruling on the White
case, the appeal court said it had serious doubts about the purported
confession because "police set out twice to interrogate
the appellant without using the available recording equipment,
and because there is nothing in the evidence on the voir dire
which could satisfy the court of the reliability of the account
of the officers."
Mr. White was convicted in
1998 on five charges relating to a bank robbery that had been
committed two years earlier by a masked man.
He ultimately served four years
of a 10-year prison sentence.
Besides the alleged confession,
Crown evidence consisted largely of identifications by bank personnel.
Judge Feldman agreed with submissions from lawyers Andras Schreck
and Karen Unger that most of the identifications were frail evidence.
Testifying at his trial, Mr.
White said that police threatened to charge his wife as an accessory
and cause her to lose custody of her children unless he agreed
to confess.
His wife was released shortly
after he gave his police statement, giving credence to his allegation.
"The police won't change
until they lose a really big case because they have ignored what
the courts have been telling them to do," Mr. Addario said
yesterday.
"I can't think of anyone
else who could ignore the courts for 10 years and get away with
it," he said.
"It's impudent and contemptuous,
and it shows that they're afraid of having judges see what goes
on in the interrogation rooms."
Judge Feldman was joined in
her ruling by Mr. Justice John Morden and Mr. Justice John Laskin.
© 2003 Bell Globemedia
Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
